Leaders of #Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan call Azeri president at informal meeting — Kremlin.
Aliyev expressed his gratitude for Putin’s invitation to attend the May 9 events in the Russian capital, the Azerbaijani leader’s press service said

#Starmer urges Putin to prove he is serious about peace by signing up to #Ukraine ceasefire

Arrested Russian captain of a #cargo vessel involved in North Sea collision charged.

#LONDON — British police said Friday the Russian captain of a cargo ship that collided with a U.S. tanker has been charged over the death of a crew member, who is missing and presumed dead.

Vladimir Motin, who was the master of the Portugal-flagged cargo vessel Solong, will appear in Hull Magistrates’ Court on Saturday charged with what English legal authorities term “gross negligence manslaughter,” Humberside Police said.

It wasn’t immediately clear where Motin was being held or whether he has approved legal representation.

Motin, 59, who is from Primorsky, St. Petersburg, was arrested in northeast England on Tuesday, a day after the collision with the MV Stena Immaculate, a tanker transporting jet fuel for the U.S. military in the North Sea.

Humberside Police confirmed that the missing crew member is “now presumed dead” after extensive searches. It said the family are being supported by specialist trained officers.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Filipino national Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, has been named as the crew member who is presumed to have died in the collision.

“We have authorized Humberside Police to charge a Russian national in relation to a collision involving two vessels in the North Sea off the east coast of England,” said Frank Ferguson, head of the prosecutor’s office special crime and counter terrorism division.

Shipping company Ernst Russ, which owns the Solong, has said previously that the ship’s 14 crew were a mix of Russian and Filipino nationals.

U.K. authorities have said there is nothing so far to indicate that it’s connected to national security.

The U.K. Marine Accident Investigation Branch is also involved in investigating what caused the Solong, bound from Grangemouth, Scotland, to Rotterdam, Netherlands, to hit the stationary tanker, which was anchored about 10 miles (16 kilometers) off the English coast.

The investigation is being led by the U.S. and Portugal, the countries where the vessels are flagged.

Port inspection documents show the Solong failed steering-related safety checks in Dublin, Ireland, in July, with the vessel’s “emergency steering position communications/compass reading” unreadable. Inspectors found a total of 10 deficiencies, including “inadequate” alarms, survival craft “not properly maintained” and fire doors “not as required.”

#Russia deputy foreign minister visits North Korea, #KCNA says.— Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko is visiting North Korea, North Korean state media KCNA said on Saturday.

His trip takes place following a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in the Ukraine war where thousands of North Korean troops have been deployed to support Russian forces, according to Ukrainian, U.S. and South Korean officials.

Rudenko has been involved in developing Russian ties with North Korea since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He was also a member of the Russian delegations at peace negotiations with Ukraine early in the war.

KCNA reported that the deputy minister had visited a landmark monument in the capital Pyongyang but did not provide further details.

More than 12,000 North Korean troops were in Russia, fighting against Ukrainian forces in the border region of Kursk, Dorothy Shea, then-deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, told the U.N. Security Council in January.

U.S. President Donald Trump urged Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin on Friday to spare Ukrainian troops that Russia is pushing out of the Kursk region, an appeal Putin said he would honor if they surrendered.

Satellites could monitor ceasefire in Ukraine, US state secretary says.A joint statement, published after March 11 US-Ukrainian talks in Jeddah, said that the countries have agreed to sign a comprehensive agreement on the development of critically important mineral resources soon.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio believes that satellites might be used to monitor compliance with potential ceasefire agreements in Ukraine.

"Well, the interesting thing about modern warfare is that it's easier than ever to monitor," he told reporters at an airport in Ireland after talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Jeddah. "Simply because there's so many eyes on the ground, and there's also all sorts of overhead commercial satellites, and it would be pretty hard to hide drone strikes, it would be hard to hide missile strikes, ballistic strikes, artillery," Rubio said when asked how a potential ceasefire could be enforced. "So, we feel like that is something that could be monitored," the secretary of state noted.

A joint statement, published after March 11 US-Ukrainian talks in Jeddah, said that the countries have agreed to sign a comprehensive agreement on the development of critically important mineral resources soon. The Kiev regime has confirmed its readiness to accept Washington’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the conflict with Russia. The United States pledged to resume providing intelligence and support to Ukraine immediately.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump announced that Washington intended to hold talks with the Russian side later "today or tomorrow." Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova did not rule out that contacts between Russian and US representatives would occur in the next few days

Air defenses eliminate 88 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions overnight
52 UAVs were eliminated over the territory of the Belgorod Region.

Russian air defense systems downed 88 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions overnight, the Defense Ministry reported.

"In the period from 8:00 p.m. on March 8 to 7:00 a.m. on March 9 on-duty air defense capabilities intercepted and destroyed 88 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV): 52 UAVs over the territory of the Belgorod Region, 13 UAVs over the territory of the Lupetsk Region, nine UAVs over the territory of the Rostov Region, eight UAVs over the territory of the Voronezh Region, three UAVs over the territory of the Astrakhan Region, and one UAV over each of the territories of the Krasnodar Region, the Ryazan Region, and the Kursk Region," the ministry said.

#Djokovic crashes out of Indian Wells opener

#Europe does not know how to resolve Ukraine crisis, #Trump says
The #US president said that he had always had a good relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin

#Iran won’t negotiate with US until it stops imposing its interests — Khamenei
The comments were in response to a letter from #US President Donald Trump, where he proposed talks on Iran’s nuclear program

#Musk says Ukraine’s front line would collapse in case of disconnection from Starlink.

Celebrity entrepreneur also stated that he is "sickened by years of slaughter in a stalemate that Ukraine will inevitably lose."

SpaceX owner Elon Musk has said that the Starlink satellite system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army, adding that Kiev’s entire front line would collapse in case of the country’s disconnection from the system.

"My Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off," he wrote on the X social network.


Celebrity entrepreneur also stated that he is "sickened by years of slaughter in a stalemate that Ukraine will inevitably lose."

"Anyone who really cares, really thinks and really understands wants the meat grinder to stop," Musk noted.